A Runner of Fate
by SplendidRain
Summary: Years after the Twilight Princess events, an unlikely hero is awakened as the Savior of Hyrule after a faithful meeting with an odd shady figure. But how does it know so much and how far can it be trusted? Will have OOT & TP moments and places and LinkxOC


**AN: Hey, first I just want to say thanks so much for checking out my story! This is my first LoZ story and I have some what I feel are awesome ideas for it (Along with a couple surprises =]). Like the summary said, it takes place a long time after the Twilight Princess events, (so there will be like new towns and landscaping etc) but I will be ushering both Ocarina and Twilight into the story. Unfortunately for me, I sometimes forget the landscaping in Twilight (Twilight is my sister's specialty, Ocarina is mine) and I mix things up, so I will try to stay as accurate as possible and know I'm doing the best I can. Again, thanks a bunch for reading!**

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On an otherwise peaceful morning, an abrupt panicked breath escaped a young fleeing Ordonian runner. The frightened youth's semi short dirty blonde hair swayed back and forth with each hastened step. A monstrous creature trailed the path close behind as he started to near the quiet village of Ordon. His bag of rupees in hand, he was returning from an exchange of goods with some merchants in the Hyrule Castle Town. The creature was right on his tail as he made a final leap of faith into a small pond that ran through the village. The monster pounced and the runner shrieked as it began to…lick his face?

"Li!" A stern voice called, using the nickname everyone in the town had become familiar with. "Come on! I have another assignment for you. You can play with Beast later!" Li chuckled as he lifted the small black and white dog up and waded out of the pond.

"Here Mr. Vosh. These are the earnings from the goat cheese and milk."

"Covered in pond water and dog slobber as always." He laughed, taking the small bag away. Li smiled along with him and began to leave when the older man's hand gently grabbed his shoulder.

"Li, before you go, I understand you have just come back from what I'm sure was a difficult journey, but I need you to go run for me one more time."

"Two jobs in one day? Mr. Vosh, you should remember to give me everything the first time. What's the occasion?"

"I know, but this is urgent. My sister who lives in the town by the Snowpeak Ruins has sent me a letter that she has become extremely ill. I have made her a medicine as well as a box of food that I need to be delivered as soon as possible" The young runner looked skeptical. "I understand I have never asked you to go out this far, but I feel it is extremely important that this gets to her as soon as possible." He handed the goods over and Li nodded.

"I'll make sure she gets it as quickly as I can."

"If I had a horse or something for you I swear it would be yours, but we simply do not have any." Li understood, and putting the food and medicine in his bag, he started to leave. "Now you know you can wait and rest until morning."

"It's alright. If this is as urgent as you say it is, its best I started now."

"Thank you Li, and for your journey I want you to have this." Mr. Vosh handed him a wallet of fifty rupees and a Lantern and smiled. Li shook his head and tried to give it back.

"Don't worry. It's in case you need anything on the way. Besides, now you can travel even if it gets too dark. Think of this as a paycheck. Now go on." Without another word, Li walked off and began his voyage. He quickly ran into the Faron Province, crossed the wooden bridge and stopped at the fork in the road. Knowing that the left path would only take him to the woods, he ran right and continued on to Hyrule Field.

Hours later, night fell and Li was still running, fatigued and tired. A soft chilling wind blew along with a light rain that sent a shiver up his spine. He grasped the back tighter and continued on.

"I've been running for so long, it feels like the ground is running with me." The weary traveler coughed, collapsing on the moist green grass. He closed his eyes for a minute before the ground moved again. Before he could react, two angry wolves pounced out of the earth, less than a foot away from him. Li jolted up in disbelief and swiftly put his hand into his bottom layered shirt where a small dagger was resting in its holster, in case of thieves. The canines were nothing but bones with bright blue shining eyes that glowed in the blanket of darkness. The two Stalhounds began to circle the anxious Ordonian. With the blink of an eye, one of the hounds jumped forward, opening his fierce jaw to bite into the puny iron blade that Li stabbed forward. It backed up and pounced again, head butting him in the stomach, knocking the breath right out of him.

While preoccupied with the first Stalhound, the second lunged forward and fixed his grip on Li's left hand. It tugged violently, piercing through the thin skin. Li screamed and fell to the ground, earning a release as his hand slid through a hole in the Stalhound's jaw. On the ground, he made sure the bag of goods was still on his back and kicked his legs forward to hop back on his feet. The hounds were coming around for a second attack, and knowing he wasn't going to get very far fighting them with what he had, the now injured runner darted away from the mess and headed towards a tree.

In the tree, Li threw rocks he had gathered while running and tossed them at the howling creatures. They constantly jumped up, trying to climb the tree. As he started to resort to throwing his shoes, an ominous figure floated overhead. It looked as though it was just casually flying by, but stopped to look at the sights. It watched curiously with crossed arms. The Stalhounds drew closer to reaching their prey when a blue flame flew out from above, singeing and scattering the bones of the Stalhound's body over the dampened fields, the smaller remains flushed away by the falling rain. The other turned to see what threw the deadly flame and was quickly done away in the same manor.

Relieved that the Stalhounds were gone, the feeling was soon replaced with the familiar petrified feeling when the figure, able to take the Stalhounds out in one shot descended to face him. Its body shined a faint red tint which offset the bright blue lantern it carried. It had long pointed fingers and a corpselike face that was half covered by a hood. Li grasped his small dagger while balancing in the tree which made the ghostly figure chuckle.

The Poe floated closer and when Li tried to back away, the youth slipped off the branch and fell to the ground below with a thud. He started to get up to run when the Poe grabbed his injured wrist.

"Let me go!" He squirmed to break his hand free, but the Poe's grip couldn't be broken. It stared closely and eventually it was satisfied.

"Finally, I've found you." It whispered almost inaudibly.

"Finally found me? What are you talking about? I'm telling you again to let go of me!" The Poe dipped its finger where the flesh had been ripped and showed the still resisting Ordonian his own hand. Beyond the gruesome wounds, a golden triangle shone brightly on his left hand. "Whatever this is you're doing to me, take it off!"

"You know, you're awfully brave for someone who's come so close to death twice now." Li drew a silence. The Poe ripped a piece of his reddish white cloak and tied it around the bloodied wound. The Triforce continued to glow through it.

"Listen, I don't know how you're doing that or what you are or anything but I have to go. I need as much time as I can get."

"Just let me explain. You owe me that after I got rid of the Stalhounds."

"Alright, what's going on?" The Poe looked at him and began to explain.

_Years after the true ruler of the Twilight Realm shattered the Twilight Mirror and Ganondorf again banished to the Sacred Realm, a small horde of Gerudos wished solely for the return of their king. Although they wished for their king to arise again, the followers were very dormant and did nothing to change that. That is, until they discovered a way to bring the King of Darkness back from the Sacred Realm. With time, the horde grew from merely Gerudos to Hyrulians and Hylians as well. Ganondorf possesses one of the pieces of the Triforce to begin with, so they must gather the other two separate pieces to complete it. One belongs to the Princess Zelda of Hyrule, and the other belongs to the Savior of Hyrule. If this group completes the Triforce, it will be able to open the Sacred Realm again and Hyrule will plummet into a newly found darkness. _

"This is a frightening story and all, but shouldn't someone who already knows of all this be worried about saving Hyrule? What does any of this have to do with me?"

"Well, judging by that mark, it has everything to do with you. That insignia is the royal symbol and the Triforce of Courage."

"It can't be! I don't even understand some of the things you are saying. I can't be this Savior of Hyrule. I'm just an Ordonian Runner."

"That mark says otherwise."

"What… this? It wasn't even there until after you showed up. I have no reason to trust you."

"Maybe we can work a deal. You don't seem to handle dangers very well."

"I can it handle just fine."

"Fine, I'll watch how many more Stalhounds you can take on you own. There should be plenty of them around this time." Li made a perturbed face. He couldn't even take on two of these creatures and if he were to hide until sunrise each time it turned dark, it would take days to get to Snowpeak. "I'll protect you and help you get this package to wherever you need to go. However, in return you have to come with me and learn to become the new Savior of Hyrule, retrieve the Master Sword, and help me put a stop to this horde before they obtain the remaining pieces of the Triforce and release Ganondorf from the Sacred Realm."

"You know, for a deal this doesn't sound extremely fair.."

"Well, with that Triforce in you, you know they'll be after you anyway. Now you just have to choose whether you're going to defend yourself or not." Without seeing a better option, the newly appointed hero nodded reluctantly.

"But for right now, I have to get this to Snowpeak." When the wounded runner tried to continue on, he suddenly felt a stinging sensation crawl up his body. It was then he noticed where the rain washed the now pink liquid from his upper body down to his rough cloth boots. The Poe caught this as well and stared. "Maybe…maybe I'll find somewhere to sleep and continue in the morning." With that, Li hobbled over to a tree and lay down under the branches to protect him from the rain. "I'm assuming you don't sleep much." The Poe nodded.

"It's alright. I'll watch out for anything else while it's still dark."

"Hey, just a thought, but did those Stalhounds decide to attack me because of this Triforce? I've never run into anything quite that aggressive." Again, the Poe nodded.

"Creatures such as these feel a powerful hostility when they sense the golden powers." The Ordonian just looked at the spirit with a bitter expression.

"You know… I still don't trust you…" He whispered harshly as his eyelids became heavy and drifted off to sleep.

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**AN: Well there's my first chapter! I hope you liked it. If you have any questions, critiques, or comments, drop me a review. For the record, I have a reason why I'm giving Link the nickname _Li. _That was the main question my friend and sister had when they proofread it so just humor me for a bit. **


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